Allies unite behind Saudi Arabia as more Iranian flights restricted

OIL EXPORTS SQUEEZED

The war, which US President Donald Trump launched alongside Israel, has killed thousands of people and disrupted global trade and energy supplies, adding to inflationary pressures.

While the fighting between the US and Iran has been stop-start, Iranian allies have mobilised, with Hezbollah attacks triggering an Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the Houthi advance in Yemen prompting a new humanitarian crisis.

Iran and its allies have significantly squeezed oil exports from Saudi Arabia, a US ally. The Houthis have disrupted ship traffic at the mouth of the Red Sea, while Iran has limited tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for 20% of the world’s oil exports before the war.

On Thursday, the Houthis said they had fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets, while Saudi authorities said they had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Houthi fighters.

Later, Saudi Arabia‘s Grand Mufti, the kingdom’s top religious authority, called on soldiers to be ready to lay down their lives to fight the Houthis until the group was ousted from power.

Amid the fighting, the Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish foreign ministers met on Thursday for discussions under a defence pact signed in August.

They condemned attacks targeting the holy Saudi city of Mecca and other civilian sites, while affirming Saudi Arabia‘s right to defend itself and planning a meeting between chiefs of staff on ways to assist the kingdom.

Turkey’s defence ministry said Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu was travelling to Saudi Arabia on Friday to meet his Saudi and Pakistani counterparts.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the defence pact, which stipulates that an attack against one country be considered an attack against all, could lead to intelligence, logistical or ammunition support.

“More advanced military support could also be considered depending on the scale of the threat,” Erdogan said in written responses to Newsweek.

The speaker of Turkey’s parliament, which has yet to ratify the pact, said it could be expanded into a broader alliance “for the Muslim world”, including Iran.